Buti Joseph Tlhagale

Buti Joseph Tlhagale (born 26 December 1947) is a South African Catholic prelate who was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg in South Africa. He was appointed Archbishop of Johannesburg on 5 June 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI. He retired as archbishop on 28 October 2024 and stayed on as Archbishop Emeritus of Johannesburg.

Background and education He was born on 26 December 1947 in Randfontein, Gauteng, South Africa. He completed his secondary school studies at Inchanga High School, near Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. He entered the novitiate of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Villa Maria, Quthing, Lesotho, in 1967. The following year, he entered the Mater Jesu Scholasticate in Roma, Maseru District, Lesotho. In 1972 he graduated from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy from 1972 until 1976.

Priesthood He professed as a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1967. He was ordained a priest on 29 August 1976 by Bishop Peter Fanyana John Butelezi, OMI, Bishop of Umtata.